Earlier this afternoon, we passed along news that Tampa Bay Lightning forward Mattias Ritola received a two-game suspension for a hit on New York Islanders forward Matt Moulson.

The problem was that we weren’t able to find any video evidence of the hit.

As the league tends to do, the suspension was handed down and then the video became available. As you can see from the clip posted at the bottom of this article, Ritola hit Moulson from behind/the side and clearly left his feet for a second to administer the hit.

It strikes me as a less violent version of the Niklas Hjalmarsson hit on Jason Pominville from earlier this season. The thing that really made it an easy suspension was how prone Moulson was in that situation and the fact that Ritola left his feet.

Do you think the suspension was appropriate? Or was it too long or too short? Let us know in the comments.

I haven’t been able to find any video of the hit (not even on Youtube … what is this world coming to?), but Damian Cristodero of the St. Petersburg Times reports that the NHL handed Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Mattias Ritola a two game suspension for a hit he delivered to New York Islanders forward Matt Moulson.

Early in the second period, Ritola left his feet along the boards, leading with his backside and putting his elbow to the back of Moulson’s head, sending Moulson into the side boards. Ritola was assessed a five-minute major for charging. Moulson stayed in the game, scoring New York’s first goal.

“If it’s a hit that deserves suspension, you have to live with what you do,” Lightning head coach Guy Boucher said Wednesday after the game. “I know him, he’s not a cheap shot guy at all, he’s a skilled guy.”

Charging hits can be awfully dangerous, so I am glad that the NHL punished him … especially considering the fact that Ritola’s own coach admitted that he should be suspended for the hit. We will provide video (either within this post later on or as a separate update) if it becomes available from the NHL.